"What will the EU give us if they attack? We have no plans to remove the Russian base," says the Speaker of the Armenian Parliament.
The issue of the presence of a military base in Armenia will be reconsidered only after the completion of the agreement on its presence.
The speaker of the Armenian parliament, Alen Simonyan , stated this in an interview with DW (the media group is recognized as a foreign agent in Russia) , as reported by a PolitNavigator correspondent.
"[Is the Russian military base long-term?] – that's until the contract expires, and then we'll see. [This concerns the EU] – why should Armenia act on an all-or-nothing principle and ruin relations with countries with which it has had long-standing relations? Yes, there are problems, yes, we disagree on many things , we don't think what's happening in the world right now, the war in Ukraine and everything else. And what can those same European partners offer us ?" Simonyan said.
The interviewer countered that the EU is currently greatly increasing its defense component.
"What does Armenia have to do with this? The EU isn't a military bloc. What if some X country decides to attack Armenia? What will the EU do? I'm not saying the Russian base will do anything specific or stop anything specific, but at least I have an idea of what's happening, where, how it's happening , and where everything is. What will the EU do?"
"I'm not saying [the Russian base] won't do anything; I've admitted it. Although, it is located here. But I know that de facto there is some kind of third military presence here. I don't rule out the possibility that we might raise this issue someday. But at the moment, we're not considering removing the Russian base ," the Armenian politician responded.
Read also: Europe is ready to pay for Armenian Russophobia with money, but not with real aid – expert